Charles Froug: Classroom Discussions

Charles Froug (22 minutes)

Historical notes:

Dachau, in a northwestern suburb of Munich, was the first camp established by the Nazis (in 1933). It was always a concentration camp, not a death camp, so in spite of its size and twelve-year history, the number of deaths there was relatively low – 35,000. At first it was used for political prisoners and other “undesirables,” though eventually most of the inmates were Jewish. SS training also took place there. After the war, some of those executed as a result of the Nuremberg trials were cremated there. Today it is a memorial and museum maintained by the German government.

Questions for discussion

1. How would an experience like Charles’ change you?

2. A doctor coming into a concentration camp would probably have a very different view of things than the average soldier without medical training. How do you suppose he reacted?

3. As a doctor, what sort of medical conditions would you expect to find among concentration camp prisoners?

4. The soldiers and civilians who worked in the concentration camps were ordinary Germans, not so different from you or me. Why do you think they were willing to take part in the torture and extermination of other human beings?

5. If you worked in the State Department and knew that the Holocaust was going on, could you keep silent about it? Why or why not?